News

WHITEWATER– August 19, 2020 (Discover Whitewater press release) – The Discover Whitewater Series (DWS): Half Marathon and 5K is more than just a race; it is a way to impact and give back to the Whitewater community.  

The generosity from sponsors creates opportunities for Whitewater’s schools, athletics and so much more. As a valued aspect of this community, the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater (UW-W) has recommitted as a Title Sponsor for the eighth annual DWS, scheduled for Sept. 20, 2020. 

Thanks to the contributions of UW-W, the DWS is able to offer a fun and competitive event that showcases the beauty of Whitewater and highlights the UW-W campus. The new course route allows participants to see more of the UW-W campus than they have in the past.  

“The new DWS course showcases more of Whitewater than ever before,” said DWS Executive Director, Jeffery Knight. “UW-W has always been a huge supporter of the race and we are thrilled to be highlighting the University’s campus. Without the University’s continuous generosity, we wouldn’t be able to plan such an incredible athletic event for the community.” 

In addition to UW-W’s sponsorship, Aladdin Food Services provides food for race participants and volunteers. Aladdin supplies the food for a majority of the UW-W campus’s dining options.  (Banner note: UW-W’s dining purveyor formerly did business as A’Viands; however, in December, 2019 its parent company, Elior North America, rebranded all of its higher education accounts to a single brand, Aladdin Food Management Services, LLC.)

In previous years, UW-W Dining Services in partnership with Aladdin has provided the pre-race dinner celebration for participants. While there may not be a pre-race dinner this year, participants and volunteers will still have plenty of opportunities to taste many of the delicious options that Aladdin Food Services has to offer.  

Many UW-W students volunteer for DWS to earn volunteer hours and support the community. Typically, different campus organizations will also volunteer by manning many of the water stations that provide hydration to all participants. The DWS team is so grateful that even students come out and support the City of Whitewater.   

“UW-Whitewater is pleased to help support the Discover Whitewater Series and have been onboard since the beginning,” Chancellor Dwight Watson said. “We are a proud partner in this event, and so many others, that showcase all that Whitewater has to offer. Whitewater is a great place to learn, live, work, play and run!” 

Between providing volunteers, facilities, and food service UW-W is involved in almost every aspect of putting together the DWS. 

UW-W’s sponsorship helps DWS grow and helps to create a fun event that the whole community of Whitewater can come together for. Proceeds from the race are donated to five local charities: Bethel House, UW-Whitewater Athletics, Working for Whitewater’s Wellness (W3), Whitewater Unified School District and the J-Hawk Aquatic Club.  

The DWS team looks forward to another year working alongside UW-W. To learn more about the University and all that they do, check out  http://www.uww.edu/.  

About the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater 

The University was founded in 1868 and officially joined the University of Wisconsin System in 1971. Our campus has continued to grow and evolve ever since, and we hope you’ll come be a part of the next stage in our story. Our university recently had a significant milestone in our history. In 2018-19, UW-Whitewater celebrated its 150^th anniversary. This is an outstanding accomplishment and speaks both to our legacy of excellence, and our ever-growing impact in our region and in Wisconsin. More recently, the UW-System board of regions announced that UW-Whitewater is the most affordable four-year college in Wisconsin. For more information visit www.uww.edu.  

About the DWS 

The goal of the DWS is to promote the City of Whitewater and highlight its greatest features, while keeping everyone in the community active. All the proceeds from the race are donated to five local non-profit partners: Bethel House (which provides interim housing for homeless families), Whitewater LEADS, Working for Whitewater’s Wellness (W3), Whitewater Unified School District and the J-Hawk Aquatic Club. The DWS partners with the city, business community, university and the school district to make this a tremendous event that benefits all who participate. For more information about the race visit www.runwhitewater.com. 

Per a press release issued by Fort HealthCare:

Fort HealthCare has been awarded a Top Workplaces 2020 honor by The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
The list is based solely on employee feedback gathered through a third-party survey administered by
employee engagement technology partner Energage , LLC. The anonymous survey uniquely measures 15
drivers of engaged cultures that are critical to the success of any organization: including alignment,
execution, and connection, just to name a few. This is the tenth time that Fort HealthCare has proudly
received this award.

“In times of great change, it is more important than ever to maintain a connection among employees,”
said Eric Rubino, Energage CEO. “When you give your employees a voice, you come together to
navigate challenges and shape your path forward based on real-time insights into what works best for
your organization. The Top Workplaces program can be that positive outcome your company can rally
around in the coming months to celebrate leadership and the importance of maintaining an employee-
focused culture, even during challenging times.”

Nancy Alstad, Fort HealthCare Senior Director of Human Resources commented, “This recognition
signifies that our employees continue to feel valued and proud to be part of Fort HealthCare; it is our
employees’ enduring commitment to our mission and each other that sustains us and keeps us focused on
quality patient care. We are so incredibly honored to receive this award for a tenth time!”

About Fort HealthCare
Fort HealthCare is committed to improving the health and well-being of our communities, with a vision
to be the healthiest community in Wisconsin. As the leading healthcare provider in the region, it is our
goal to reach as many members of the community as possible with health and wellness messages,
providing tools and resources to help individuals improve their health and quality of life, while
collaborating with several partners to positively improve the population’s health overall on a long term
basis. For more information, visit FortHealthCare.com.

About Energage
Energage offers a fully unified SaaS platform, plus support and professional services, to help
organizations recruit and retain the right talent. As a B-Corporation founding member, Energage has
committed itself to the purpose of making the world a better place to work together. Based on 14 years
of culture research, the engine behind 51 Top Workplaces programs across the country, and data
gathered from over 20 million employees at 60,000 organizations, Energage has isolated the 15 drivers
of engaged cultures that are critical to the success of any business, and developed the tools and expertise
to help organizations measure, shape and showcase their unique culture to achieve a sustainable
competitive advantage. For more information, please visit energage.com. Follow us on Twitter
@teamenergage and Facebook and LinkedIn @energage.

By Lynn Binnie
Whitewater Banner staff
whitewaterbanner@gmail.com

At its August 19 meeting the Parks & Recreation Board heard a report from Program Coordinator Michelle Dujardin about the department’s plans to support parents in the midst of the evolving school year formats.

Daycare will be offered from 7:30 a.m. – 5:30 p.m. at the Downtown Armory for children K-5th grade. Participants may arrive and leave at any time during those hours. There’s a maximum of ten students and a minimum of four. The cost is $30/day per child, which includes two snacks; however, parents will provide a bag lunch. Ten work stations have been set up for the children’s school work, for which there will be two one-and-a-half hour periods set aside daily. The staff is prepared to assist the students with their digital learning; in fact, several of the staff attended training on the Seesaw online format. Work will be saved in draft form, so that parents will be able to review it before it is submitted to the teachers. As of the meeting, there is a waiting list, with no one on it, for the first two weeks of school.

After School: Will be available for children K-5th grade from 3-6 p.m. at each school on the day when a child has in-person learning. There’s a maximum of ten students and a minimum of four. The cost is $10/day.

For further information call the department at 262-473-0520.

In other business:

• Director Eric Boettcher reported that the siphons on Trippe Lake are beginning to drop the lake depth. There are three 12″ siphons, approximately 100′ long, which operate on gravity.
• Completion of the Cravath Lakefront Park Amphitheater is on schedule, with the grand opening scheduled for mid-September.
• Seniors in the Park will sponsor a car show on August 26.
• After clarification of the Governor’s facial covering order by the City Attorney, masks will be required in all areas of the Aquatic and Fitness Center with the exception of those who are swimming.
• Soccer begins next week.
• Average checkins at the Aquatic and Fitness Center in July were 89 per day compared with 149 in 2019. Only members are allowed to use the facility at this time. Use of the lap pool is by reservation, and it is functioning at 66% of capacity.
• There was discussion regarding whether there would be community trick-or-treating, with a variety of opinions expressed but no decision.

Posted below is the information about the children’s program that was included in the Parks & Recreation Board agenda packet.

Whitewater After School Program Reopening Plan
This is a working document and dependent on the current climate and status of Covid‐ 19. In
addition, we will take into consideration any direction given to us from City, County and State
guidelines that will be available at time of opening. Again, this is a working document and is
subject to change as we gather more information.

After school families were surveyed to help best determine family needs and program structure.
The survey was sent to 2019-2020 registered after school families, this totaled 109 users.
Families were given two weeks to respond to the survey, 44 response were received. ( Survey
Attached).
In response to the survey, the following programs have been created and currently open for
registration:

 Start date for full day program located at the Downtown Armory is
scheduled for Tuesday, Sept 1st through Friday, September 25th with a timeframe of
7:30am- 5:30pm. This program will take a maximum of 10 participants and a minimum
of 4 participants. This program has a structured schedule that allows two different time
blocks for connection to virtual learning with the help from Parks and Recreation Staff.

 Start date for partial day program located at each Elementary School is scheduled for
Tuesday, Sept 1st through Friday, Sept 25th with a timeframe of 3:00pm -6:00pm. This
program will take a maximum of 10 participants and a minimum of 4 participants.

Safety measure are highly important to us.
High touch surfaces will be wiped down every two hours, masks will be required, and,
when people enter hand sanitizer or hand washing will also be required.
Staff will meet requirements set by the city (mask, temp, reporting, etc)
In the event of a COVID-19 situation, the department will follow the Jefferson County Health
Department and current CDC Guidelines.

By Lisa Dawsey Smith
Whitewater Banner staff
whitewaterbanner@gmail.com

At its August 18 virtual meeting the Common Council adopted a substantially revised Equal Opportunities Commission ordinance. Such an ordinance has existed for over a decade; however, the commission established under that ordinance was only to be constituted in case a complaint of discrimination was filed. No such complaint has been filed in anyone’s memory, so far as is known. The newly constituted commission will be a standing commission, with City Manager Cameron Clapper indicating that he anticipates that it will be a proactive body. The goal will be to help to ensure that Whitewater is a welcoming, affirming and inclusive community, and to contribute to the elimination of racism and other forms of discrimination. A first priority will be a review of city services; in particular, those of the Police Department. The commission will be composed of one or two councilmembers and five to six citizens who may live and/or work in the city or live in the school district. Applications to serve on the commission will soon be solicited.

Also approved at the meeting was an authorization to sell city-owned property via auction, namely, Swenson bottom salter for single axle patrol; brand new / never used track snow blower; job truck #417 (old fire truck) and two Crown Victoria automobiles.

The meeting was held on the 100th anniversary of the ratification of the 19th amendment to the Constitution,which gave women the right to vote. City Manager Cameron Clapper read a proclamation recognizing the anniversary, noting that Wisconsin was the first state, by a margin of minutes, to ratify the amendment.

A New Banner Service – Garage Sale Ads

As a result of a reader’s comment that it’s hard to find garage sales in Whitewater now that we no longer have a weekly shopper, the Banner staff has agreed to begin a “consolidated” garage sale posting that will be published each Thursday morning for the upcoming weekend’s sales. This announcement will only be for garage sales (a sale of miscellaneous household goods, often held in the garage or front yard of someone’s house) in the city and school district boundaries. We will not be accepting, for example, ads for cars or other items that are not part of a scheduled garage sale. There will be a limit of three times per year for a particular property. Although we may eventually make a small charge for this service, initially it will be complimentary.

Those wishing to place a notice must send the information to whitewaterbanner@gmail.com by Wednesday at 6 p.m. You may include a brief description of the items that are for sale, the hours and days of the sale, and of course your address.

WHITEWATER, WI – August 19 — At its Monday, August 17 meeting, the School Board of the Whitewater Unified
School District voted to approve the district’s Virtual Instruction Platform for the 2020-21 school year.
This platform is for students who choose the fully virtual model instead of the small-group, face-to-face
instructional model.

The approval assigned 3.5 teachers to our elementary virtual platform. Additionally, the School Board
approved Edgenuity as the virtual online platform for grades 6-12. This approval makes no changes to
the in-person, small group instruction model families have chosen.

“With the Board’s approval, we are very pleased to formalize our Virtual Instruction Platform for the
upcoming school year,” said Dr. Caroline Pate-Hefty, WUSD District Administrator. “This plan is the
result of months of hard work and preparation by district staff. We are confident that we have created a
plan that will continue to engage our students, even during those times when they are not physically in
our classrooms.”

To start the school year:
● Students in 4K will learn in small-group, in-person classes on two half-days each week.
● Students in grades K-5 will take part in virtual learning with a rotating schedule of small-group
in-person classes. (They will report in minimally weekly)
● Students in grades 6-12 will participate in an orientation-to-schools day, with virtual learning
follow-up instruction. Families grades 6-12 who are selecting a virtual model for minimally a
semester, will log into Edgenuity, which includes Wisconsin state-certified instructors and a
self-paced curriculum. There are also multiple layers of support for students to assist them in
their learning.

“Our teachers have been meeting, rewriting curriculum, creating their classroom platforms, and
preparing for both in-person and virtual instruction,” said Dr. Pate-Hefty. “Whether our students are in
our school buildings or engaging online, they will have access to a high-quality educational experience
backed by the talented and hard-working teachers and staff of WUSD.”

When questions arise you can submit them to our FAQ survey and we’ll answer them promptly:
https://sites.google.com/wwusd.org/wusd-covid-19/communications-presentations/frequently-asked-questions
Banner note: That link will take readers to a page where a number of questions have already been answered. At the top of the page there is also a link through which additional questions may be sumitted.

The first day of school is Tuesday, September 1. To view the District’s Virtual Instruction Platform for the
2020-21 school year, visit https://sites.google.com/wwusd.org/wusd-covid-19/instructional-plans.

(Whitewater Unites Lives Submission) Pete Bolchen is a WUL Hometown Hero, and has been nominated “For volunteering at the Whitewater Community Food Pantry by picking up, delivering and unloading donations, and by fixing whatever is broken.”

Pete is pictured here with Janie Anderson, who nominated him.  Pete says, “I am honored. I love working at the Food Pantry and helping out.”

WUL (Whitewater Unites Lives) is a locally-focused civil and human rights group that works to connect the people in our community and to create opportunities for all people to learn and support each other in our common humanity.   

Anyone who would like to nominate a local hero of any age should send their nomination, with a short description, to whitewaterunites@gmail.com 

By Lynn Binnie
Whitewater Banner staff
whitewaterbanner@gmail.com

At its meeting on August 17 the Whitewater Unified School District was given a recommendation by Kelly Seichter, Staff Development/Curriculum Coordinator, to adopt the Edgenuity online platform for those students in grades 6-12 who will be in the fully virtual track. Edgenuity is an Arizona based company that states the following on its website, “Since 1998, we have been bridging the gap between education and technology to help learners achieve success.” Dr. Seichter indicated that the district concluded that with their existing staff they would be unable to provide both in-person and virtual learning for the middle and high school students who plan to continue with virtual learning through the year. Consequently they looked at several companies that specialize in virtual learning, and they chose Edgenuity based on their rigor, their wide variety of electives, and recommendations from districts that have used the program. All the teachers are Wisconsin certified. They offer multiple layers of support, including tutors who are available six days a week, and generally respond to questions in a matter of minutes. There will also be “onsite mentors” in the district who will oversee the students’ progress. The cost of the program to the district will be $250 per student for each semester course. Given that it’s expected that approximately 10% of the students will be participating, the total cost is estimated at approximately $270,000. The plan was unanimously approved by the board. Some students will also be expected to continue with the JEDI program offered through CESA.

It was indicated that the parents of elementary school children will be able to change their students’ learning format (in-person vs. virtual) at the end of the initial four weeks, and also at quarters and semesters. Middle and high school students may change at quarters and semesters.

Business Manager Matthew Sylvester-Knudtson indicated that the costs associated with Edgenuity and other extraordinary expenses for the year would total approximately $525,000, most of which is expected to be made up by cuts to building maintenance budgets and leaving vacant positions unfilled. Ultimately he projected that the district would have a deficit of about $40,000, which would be covered by the small surplus from last year.

The board approved the one year leave of absences requested by three special education paraprofessionals at Washington School. Mr. Sylvester-Knudtson stated that discussions are ongoing with only a few certified staff members regarding possible leave requests. District administrator Caroline Pate-Hefty indicated that the administration is pleased that there have not been more requests, stating that they are hearing from teachers that the plan that was adopted “helped them all feel safe.”

Dr. Pate-Hefty indicated that the current blended COVID-19 positivity rate is 8.58%, still higher than the 8% threshhold recommended by the Jefferson County epidemiologist for in-person learning. Walworth County’s rate is 8.82%, Jefferson’s is 9.4%, and Rock’s, 4.12%.

The Board approved approximately $66,000 to provide necessary school supplies for all students, including those working virtually. Dr. Pate-Hefty indicated that it is the district’s policy to be equitable in providing these supplies to all students.

UW-W’s Children’s Center had announced on August 17 that a staff member had tested positive for COVID-19, resulting in temporary closure of the center. Pate-Hefty indicated that this affects 17 district students who participate in the Children’s Center program.